A replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall is now on display in southern Utah. The traveling monument pays tribute to the fallen US soldiers who fought in the war decades ago.
Vietnam war veteran Bruce Raftery visited the memorial in Washington City on Wednesday morning.
"I see the faces. When I see the names, I see the faces," Raftery said.
He said remembered his friends who fought with him during the Vietnam war.
"The first thing I did when I got here this morning was I went and found two guys I graduated from high school with that were killed in Vietnam. Then I go find my guys that died with me," Raftery told ABC4's Tasmin Mahfuz.
The original Vietnam Veterans Memorial is in Washington D.C. The replica has visited more than 400 cities and towns throughout the nation. It's the third time the "Wall That Heals" has traveled to St. George. Dan Greathouse, the President of Veterans Vietnam of America of the Southern Utah Chapter 961, said this is the closest many veterans will ever get to the real one in DC.
"It started in 1996. You have to go online and register two years in advance. It takes about $10,000 to get it here and we did everything we could to raise the money," Greathouse said.
He said the walls carry 58,469 names, including eight nurses and sixteen chaplains.
War veteran Gordon Farr said seeing the names is an intensely emotional experience.
"I approached the wall with trepidation and you're afraid to find someone that you been in the service with and to find their name there. It's a tremendous experience," Farr said.
Hundreds of veterans and families came to commemorate the soldiers who sacrificed their lives.
"It's just very humbling knowing that these people went and fought and gave everything that they have to fight in this war," said Noah Hume of the Air Force Junior ROTC.
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